Interview- Type O Negative

Written by Julie Johnson 2

Type O Negative

With Josh Silver of Type O Negative

11-12-99

Live In Albany, NY at Northern Lights

By Julie Johnson

I was very fortunate to be able to catch up with the band Type O Negative when they stopped in Albany , NY on Novemeber 12, 1999. I talked to Josh Silver who is the keyboard player in the band. I usually do my interviews by e-mail, but this was my first live interview, which I got to do on the tour bus about 1 hour before the show. I want to thank the band for everything, and I hope to hear from you since I gave you my e- mail. So, if this interview is a little different from the others, that are because this was live and I have trying to listen and take notes. Peter and Josh was nice enough to sign my CD too. Peter signed the front cover of the new CD World Coming Down.Check out picture of me and the band at the bottom.

1a) Gothgirl-Welcome to Albany, Is this your last stop on the Tour? How long was the tour? How was the Tour?

Josh-No, Rhode Island is the last stop. The tour was six and half weeks long and was mostly sold out, but overall it's gone pretty well.

1b) Gothgirl-What has been the most memorable moment?

Josh-The most memorable was when our Manager, Mike Amato broke his collarbone 3 times! While on tour in Memphis, there was a large brawl in outside our tour busses when some thugs were looking for loot. Even though violence could have been avoided, the cops maced some of the thugs and we did not have any charges pressed, it was a wasteful event.

1c) Gothgirl-Why did you decide to come back to Albany?

Josh-Most of the clubs that we perform at are in rough neighborhoods and it was the agent who made the decision to come back to Albany, not us. Over the years we've played some clubs that we shouldnt have but our shows continue to sell out.

2) Gothgirl-You guys have a brand new CD out called World Coming Down. How has it been selling? How is this CD compared to others? Is Bloody Kisses your biggest selling album to date? Do you have a personal favorite?

Josh-The new is CD selling well. Bloody Kisses, our biggest seller to date, was relatively unknown when it first came out and was a "Mixed bag". Overall, there is good and bad material on everything we've done. World Coming Down is more depressing than the others as it deals with painful experiences and drug abuse which we've all lived through. It's an album that will grab people quickly, yet it's more like a funeral.

3) Gothgirl-What is the biggest strength this new album has that others do not have?

Josh-Honesty... life experiences.

4) Gothgirl-On the cover of the new album is the Brooklyn Bridge. Why did you pick that for the cover and how does that reflect upon the group?

Josh-World Coming down is a millenium statement which I feel is just another day which is pretty much bullshit. I'm not concerned with millenium. I'm fond of the picture on the cover; it was taken by a very good French photographer who I happen to like.

5) Gothgirl-Do you write any of the lyrics?

Josh-I don't do anything of the songwriting, Peter does.

6a) Gothgirl-Why are there so many references to Halloween on your new album?

Josh-Halloween has lost its appeal. I'm 37 years old and could care less.

6b) Gothgirl-Where does the band live?

Josh-All of us live within 10 miles of each other in Brooklyn. Josh and Peter live on the same street.

7) Gothgirl-How do you all work together as a band and have you ever run into any serious problems?

Josh-It is an emotional roller coaster as problems often occur. There are good and bad times and you make your way through, sometimes you see a member going another way, and you may not like it...

8) Gothgirl-How much have you grown as a band since the beginning?

Josh-We've matured musical, nonmusical, or neither. Some of us have gone nowhere. Bad or good some will go. That's life.

9) Gothgirl-The last song on the album was a cover medley of a Paul McCarntney and John Lennon song. Are you big fans of The Beatles?

Josh-We're all huge Beatles fans. I was against this song at first, some of the reason being that you can't improve on the Beatles, production could have had huge legality problems, there's one cover on every album and the record manager hated the idea. Trendy or not, it doesn't matter. The Beatles song felt like the right conclusion to the album.

10) Gothgirl-Do you have any gothic influences in your music and how?

Josh-Yeah, the tempo is slow, and keyboards are used ( the church organ is gothic ). We never thought we would be called Gothic. I think labels are inaccurate and don't worry about it. People always feel the need to classify things and criticism that comes about is inevitable.

11) Gothgirl-Do you feel most people take you as a serious band?

Josh-There are both perceptions. The group can be lumped in with Slayer even though were nothing like them. Like I said before, I can't be bothered worrying about it. Most musicians are stupid anyway...

12) Gothgirl-When did you first start producing music? How did you get involved?

Josh-I first started in a personal studio in mid 80s as a recording engineer, but it became much more than that. I helped Life of Agony produce an album. I don't have the time to do other projects anymore.

13) Gothgirl-What is the band's inspiration for writing a song?

Josh-Life experiences... Earlier this week I lost all clothes at a cleaners! The place closed up before I could get them out. They're not expensive but now all I have is this ( point at pants ) and another pair of pants. Tonight, I will we wearing just a t-shirt and pants.

14) Gothgirl-How do you fit a keyboard part in a song?

Josh-There is no one way. Sometimes there will be an intro other times not, but usually music first, then lyrics.

15) Gothgirl-Why did you want Puya to be your opening act?

Josh-Management made that decision to have them, I don't know them very well. Opening acts with the help of bigger bands exploded onto the scene. Limp Bizkit ( who also opening for Korn) sucks like every trend, afterall, I don't have a puffy hat! Metal mixed with rap is not very great, I'm more into melody. Melody is important. Take the Beastie Boys for example, they were supposed to be a joke, but everyone took them seriously. They were goofing the whole time!

16) Gothgirl-What is next after this tour?

Josh-We have ten days off and then we're off to Europe with Static X and Coal Chamber. We'll be back in the States after January 2000. Shows in German, Netherlands and Norway are also planned. When were on tour we see a lot of clubs, but not too much else. We'll be in Amsterdam for a week which is excitin as I like the culture there. I also love Japanbut we haven't done any shows, only press. Belgium shows are also possibilities and we have four shows in England. Europe is cool in some ways and sucks in others as there are bastards in every country- we had a video camera stolen last time we toured Europe within minutes of getting to the place we were staying.

Gothgirl-Thanks and have a great show tonight...